Blade came nicked. Return by mail, or sharpen?

[Deraj828]

So I got my Flexcut Carvin' Jack quite recently, which I believe was bought from Amazon as a gift. I've been having a good ol' time, but there is a small nick in the cutting edge of the detail knife. It's a tiny nick that I couldn't even see at first, but it's definitely there. I can't tell what sort of effect it's having on my carving, since my only experience has been on pretty lousy wood anyway, but I imagine in the years to come, I'll wish that the detail knife was free from blemish.

So I guess my options are to send it back to Amazon and go through whatever there, send it to Flexcut in Pennsylvania (I live in Utah) and lose a couple weeks of carving while I wait, or presumably I can just sharpen it somehow. What are your thoughts, keeping in mind that my only sharpening experience is from years ago in Boy Scouts and I don't want to kill the factory edge, but also keeping in mind that I really don't want to stop carving for however long it takes to get a knife mailed, shipped, checked, processed, remailed, reshipped and back in my hand?

[rcurtism]

I reground mine anyways because for a detail knife I did not think it had a thin enough blade and it tended to crush the fibers instead of slicing through them. So my sugestion is to spend twenty minutes relearning how to sharpen the blade on a good stone which will probably take out the nick. After all you will not learn how to sharpen any younger then you are now. God that sounds like something my father would say......

[Nomad]

If you knew for sure it was there when you bought it, I'd consider sending it back. However, it's not unusual for it to have a bit of a burr, and when you carved, the nick appeared. You might also consider sending it back. Learning to sharpen is essential though. However, if you are new at it, and given the cost of the knife, I'd probably still send it back and practice sharpening on a cheaper knife until you feel confident in your sharpening skills. So my advice would be to send it back or send it to someone who can sharpen it for you.

[rickm]

most knives when you get them you will configure the blade as you want and resharpen. I wouldnt send it back just for that. if its fine otherwise, hone it out and have a good knife.

[Deraj828]

Now when you say "configure the blade"....

[Claude]

I would suggest he means remove a double bevel, thin the blade a bit, etc.

I also would just sharpen it to get rid of the nick. You said "... It's a tiny nick that I couldn't even see at first..." That small, you should be able to hone the blade on a hard Arkansas stone for a bit to both get rid of any secondary bevel and remove the nick. If you don't have an A-stone, you could go the scary-sharp way and get some 1200 grit sandpaper (auto body paint place) and use that, then follow up with a good stropping to get the mirror finish back. When honing on the stone, you need to lift the back of the blade "slightly" off the stone and keep it at this angle. One measure I have heard is to lift the back the thickness of a dime...of course, that depends on the width of the blade. The angle is much different if your using a 1/4 inch wide blade vs. a half inch wide blade... Basically, in my opinion, you need to try for a 20 degree angle on the blade - this means that each side is lifted up 10 degrees. If you have a small protractor handy, see what sort of angle 10 degrees is. Roughly, for a 3/8 inch wide blade, 10 degrees would mean the back should be raised 1/16 inch, approximately. The formula for how far to lift the back of the blade off the stone to achieve 10 degrees, in case you are interested, is blade width in inches times 0.1736

If you want an angle on the blade other than 20 degrees, the formula is
blade width in inches times SIN(x degrees). If you don't have a calculator that will do trigonometry, send me a PM and I'll give you the factor.

Claude

[Bob K.]

I don't think it's worth the hassle of sending it back. If you know how to sharpen a knife I would just resharpen it yourself. If not, for about 3 bucks you can send it out and get it reground, buffed and polished at one of the available sharpening services around. I use The Old Texas Woodcarving Shop Wood Carving Tools - Texas - The Old Texas Woodcarvers Shop, Tools, Books, Classes</span> They will get it razor sharp and the turnaround time is really quick.

[luscher]

Originally Posted by Nomad

[...] Learning to sharpen is essential though. However, if you are new at it, and given the cost of the knife, I'd probably still send it back and practice sharpening on a cheaper knife until you feel confident in your sharpening skills

AMEN, Brother ! those babies are costly. personally i'd want to have the original factory shape and hone, and Nomad is right about practicing on a less expensive knife. you can simply strop this one as you practice sharpening on another

FlexCut ships out replacement knives the same day, so you're looking at about four days from to Penn. via First Class USPS, and three days back via UPS. going through Amazon would likely take much longer

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I would send it to Flexcut, they seem to stand behind their products. It could be a defect that will keep coming back. I would learn sharpening on a cheap knife, if you make a mistake it's no big deal. I bought Everett Ellenwoods sharpening video, it helped me very much, I will try to find you a link. Also many free videos on Youtube.

Dave

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Here you go,
- SHARPENING SIMPLIFIED DVD - ELLENWOOD #978571

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ing+knife&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZpF2OdkW8 Arleen is a member here on the forum.

Dave